Writer-director Darren Aronofsky adapted the Hubert Selby, Jr., novel about mothers, sons, drugs and letting your demons take over your rational self. Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans, Jennifer Connelly and an Oscar-nominated Ellen Burstyn turn in stellar performances in this hard-hitting film about the corrosive nature of addiction in all its forms. Once again working with PI cinematographer Matthew Libatique, Aronofsky juggles characters’ subjective and external worlds with an innovative visual style to evoke a nightmare that’s impossible to shake.

Rodney Dangerfield can’t get no respect as a father whose son has decided that he doesn’t want to go to college. Determined to show him the importance of education, Dangerfield enrolls at the university as well. He’s instantly popular due to his wild parties, but literature professor Sally Kellerman inspires him to crack the books. There are lots of laughs, of course, as well as a cameo by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and a soundtrack by former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman.